Thursday, February 10, 2011

l.a. was a weird, but good time! i highly recommend staying in little tokyo when you're in l.a. the amazing sushi, ramen (which i'm still dreaming about) and prime availability of hello kitty goods were all amazing, as well as the nearby yogurtland and weiland brewery! i had a great time with the craft critique girls and loved seeing a bunch of my other fave scrappy peeps. the c.c. girls kept me mostly sane during my flight home drama (4 canceled flights) and had a really great time seeing more of l.a thanks to sarah, and her cousin, who let me crash their family time while i was not-so-stranded in l.a. for an extra day.

the actual CHA show was pretty much a whirlwind, as always, and there was a whole bunch of new & inspiring things! now that i've had time to decompress i thought i'd share just 10 of my favorite new items/releases.

01.SMASH* from ek success - i pretty much fell in love with this the second i happened by the booth. i think my text to sarah went something like this, "ohmygodsmashbookdrooling." you can check out more pictures of the bits and pieces and my article all about it for craft critique here, the main break down is that there are 4 different styles of SMASHbook (at least now) that you use the SMASHpen (half glue stick, half pen) to SMASH things into the book with. then there are a whole score of cute accessories and embellishments to help tell your stories and save your memorabilia! it's kind of like a gateway drug to scrapbooking, or a modern approach to old school, o.g. scrapbooking. my favorites are the awesome date/saying stamp, washi tape with words, metal clips, pockets and the little jotters!

02. wrmk sew easy add-ons - i've already been loving my sew easy, but now there is even more to love; new floss (including bakers twine), new wider heads (including 2 different banner shapes) and a storage case that you know i'm dying to own! check out my full craft critique article here.

03. lawn fawn stamps - i'm loving this little company even more now that i've met the designer and friends who run it, they are so sweet and really love what they do! i really can't wait to get my hands on the "say cheese" & "critters in the forest" sets. i see so many cute paper piecing and copic marker-ing opportunities here! check out how cute their booth was, and some more of their new release in my craft critique article here.

04. hambly washi tapes - i didn't run across any scrappy ladies at the show who weren't loving hambly's brand new addition to their repertoire, washi tapes! they pulled from their new and existing paper/transparency patterns for the washi tape and it's something a lot of people, including me, are stoked to use, plus it was so fun to see a very pregnant allison, so cute!

05. sprinklers from october afternoon - awkward name aside, this mist-able paint, a new product for o.a. at least, is something i'm really interested to try out when it starts shipping. the basics are something i've already seen around the industry, but i'm pretty smitten with this set of colors here, especially "robot blue" which happens to match my nails right now. check out my october afternoon article right here.

06. "campy trails" thickers - it's no secret that i am thickers obsessed, and the fact that i'm picking just 2 new thickers fonts from the new american craft release is a testament to my desire to keep this post short-ish. i love, love, love the colors and fonts that coordinate with the "campy trails" collection. the "meadow" font is printed glossy chipboard, and usually i don't love all caps, but i am obsessed with the fact that these have a cream background. "forest" is woodgrain patterned glossy chip and just super yummy in general. you can check out the 4 new collections, and the rest of the thickers, in my american crafts article here.

07. crate paper's "portrait" collection - this is crate paper's wedding/heritage collection but i just see so many possibilities for this collection that it's crazy! the colors, patterns and chip bits are to die for. can't wait to get these in my mitts. crate paper's entire release from CHA is pretty awesome, if they can make me love a floral, they're doing something right. check out all 4 new collections in my crate paper article here.

08. new "double dot" patterns - the original double dot (tone on tone polka dots on one side, tone on tone distress on the other) has been popular for a while and now they have come out with 3 new double sided basics patterns! i love the new "journal" best and the hexagons on the backside of the "stripe" are pretty cool in some of the colors as well. i just think that the "journal" will make such a rad base for many a layout. you can see the rest of bo bunny's new stuff here in my craft critique article.

09. mme "stella & rose" - this is the newest rack collection from my minds eye and, as always, the colors are so saturated and beautiful i'm kind of drooling over them. 4 different color families, lots of new little bits and the 6x6" paper pads are pretty cool too.

10. maya road mini sets - most of maya road's new mini chip sets are pretty cool and have ideas spinning in my head already, but what really caught my eye were these two sets of mini canvas banners! i know that banners are everywhere, and they will jump the shark soon enough, if they haven't already, but these little canvas guys (they're only about 1.5" long) are really kind of precious, don't you think? how sweet would they be misted with splatters of pigment?!?

there is a ton more CHA coverage up on craft critique including tons of new companies from every crafty persuasion, and here are the rest of my articles from CHA;

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

even though i'm loving love, i have spent my fair share of valentine's days single so i thought it would be fun to represent the singles with a little anti-valentine for the craft critique valentines day blog carnival.

i dug deep into my stash for this card, using one of my favorite papers from the old "obscure" collection by basic grey. tina was nice enough to let me borrow her polaroid stamp from studio calico and with some masking i was able to combine it with the miss anya stamp from the "special autumn" set by the greeting farm. the "love is for the birds" sentiment is old school a muse! i also pulled out my wrmk sew easy tool for a little easy-peasy stitching detail. (copics used; w1, w3, w6, w9. rv19, bg75, yr000 & pitch black spica)

p.s. this is what happens in our house when you attempt to photograph anything on the floor, haha.